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Singing the Song of Unsung Heroes

Month: January 2010

Last week, Pastor Ignace’s congregation generously donated a large quantity of their own clothing in good condition to be taken to the earthquake victims. They also dedicated their time to make packages for their fellow brothers and sisters from Port-au-Prince. From 2:00 p.m. and all through the night, they worked tirelessly to divide food into family-size portions for delivery. They also put different sizes of clothes in the bags to prepare for distribution.

At 4:00 am the next morning, a team of 20 people from Pastor Ignace’s main church in Les Cayes, departed and headed to Port-au-Prince, (arriving at 9:00 a.m.) They went with two vehicles, a big yellow school bus and a pickup truck with the goal of distributing aid (shoes, clothes of all sizes – even for babies, toiletries, laundry detergent, sheets, hand soap, spaghetti, beans, rice, bread, 5,000 water bags and 20 gallons of water).

Prior to making the trip, they had contacted several pastor friends in different parts of Port-au-Prince, in hope to cover as many areas as possible. They chose churches as places of distribution because these churches are the pillars of the community. When they arrived, they divided their team in two. Pastor Ignace was with one group. His wife, Franchette, was with another.

In all, they visited seven different locations, distributing items to a total of about 4500 people. In some places they did the actual distributions and in others they gave the items to the local church leaders or distribution committee to hand out the items to those in need. They worked non-stop and didn’t even take a break for lunch or dinner. It was hard to navigate at times in Port-au-Prince because of the debris on the streets and obstacles.

On their return trip they had problems with the radiator on the bus overheating. Some of the men in the group stayed with the bus to get repairs the next day. The pickup continued on and arrived back in Les Cayes at 2:30am. It was a long day!

They were able to take some injured people with them back to Les Cayes as well.

Pastor Ignace closed by sharing a memorable story from their return trip:

“On our way back to Les Cayes, we were flagged by a woman on a motorcycle taxi. We asked her where she was going and she told us that she was trying to leave Port-au-Prince to go to Léogane. In her hands was something wrapped. When she stepped on the bus, we realized that what she was holding were twin babies of a month and a half. They were just discharged from the hospital. She told us that we were angels sent from God. We gave her clothes for her baby and her family, some food and some money and dropped her off in Léogane.”

We received the following note from our Praise International national leader in West Africa (Joseph Oulai).

“As Christians from Cote d’ Ivoire, we want to assist our brothers in the other side with prayer and gifts. We join you in prayer that God may create a New Nation through this catastrophe. As the houses were broken, may God break the evil foundation and make a new unshakable foundation on Jesus Christ.”

We understand that Pastor Ignace and his team were to have made their second trip with food, water and medicine to Port-au-Prince yesterday. However, we have not heard what they were able to accomplish. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear any other updates. Keep praying!

Pastor Ignace and his team were able to travel to Port-au-Prince with a van and another vehicle to do food distribution to seven refugee camps as well as to people from Pastor Livard’s church. They brought rice, beans, bread, spaghetti, matches, candles, water, clothes, and shoes. Thankfully, they were also able to transport Pastor Livard back to the Les Cayes hospital to get medical attention for his broken leg.

According to Pastor Ingace, everything is turned upside down in Port au Prince. Everything is disorganized – the medicine, government, police. Everything is completely destroyed. Stores are looted as a result of people searching for food. Everybody in Port au Prince is sleeping on the street.

They have prepared more food and clothing for distribution, but in order to make another trip to Port-au-Prince they will need to find some gasoline for their vehicles. (A gallon of gas costs $30 on the black market.) Pray that they would be able to obtain some gasoline and be able to continue their distribution.

We are gathering a special offering to send to Haiti to help meet their immense needs. If you would like to contribute to that need, please send your gifts to Praise International and mark your gift “Haiti, Raven Fund”. We will forward them to Pastor Ignace and the ministry there.

Please continue in prayer for all of the victims of this disaster and for the many organizations being mobilized to respond to this crisis. We will continue to keep you updated as we receive more information.

We have received word that Pastor Ignace (our national leader in Haiti) will be attempting to drive to Port-au-Prince (over 150 miles) this morning with a load of medicine, water, rice, beans, and bread. Yesterday they attempted to pick up the national pastor (Pastor Livard) from Port-au-Prince who has a broken leg. We have not heard of they were successful or not. There is no medical assistance available to help Pastor Livard in Port-au-Prince, so they are attempting to bring him to the Les Cayes hospital, near where Pastor Ignace lives. Pastor Ignace also mentioned that they will be attempting to bring other injured people from Port-au-Prince to the Les Cayes hospital as well. Apparently, many people from Pastor Livard’s church have died in the earthquake.

Please continue in prayer for all of the victims of this disaster and for the many organizations being mobilized to respond to this crisis. We will continue to keep you updated as we receive more information.

We are gathering a special offering to send to Haiti to help meet their immense needs. If you would like to contribute to that need, please send your gifts to Praise International and mark your gift “Haiti, Raven Fund”. We would also encourage you to contact your local church and ask if they would gather a special offering this upcoming Sunday for Haiti. The offerings can be sent to us and we will forward them to Pastor Ignace and the ministry there.

We have received word that our national leader in Haiti, Pastor Ignace Augustine and his wife are doing well. He reports that there was no damage to their church or guest house. They also mentioned that the national pastor associated with their ministry in Port au Prince has a broken leg. We do not know specific information about any of the other national workers sponsored by Praise International. As we receive more information we will pass it on to you.

Pastor Ignace stated that even though this is a great tragedy for Haiti, he knows that the Lord will work wonders and bring the people through this difficult time. Their hope is in God. They put their trust in Him. Pastor Ignace and his wife also want to say how very much they appreciate your love being poured out through the support of your prayers.

We are gathering a special offering to send to Haiti to help meet their immense needs. If you would like to contribute to that need, please send your gifts to Praise International and mark your gift “Haiti, Raven Fund”.

Please join us in fervent prayer for the nation of Haiti. As you have probably heard on the news, Haiti was just hit by a massive (7.0) earthquake and thousands are dead or seriously injured. Praise International currently sponsors 40 national pastors in Haiti. We have not yet received any reports from our contacts in Haiti so we do not know the extent that the earthquake impacted them. We will inform you as we receive updates on the status of those people associated with Praise International. Please be in prayer for all of the victims of this disaster and for the many organizations being mobilized to respond to this crisis.